Bodybuilding/Sculpting check-in;-)

This morning I did Suzanne Bowen's Barre Amped - Thigh Work and Seat Work

I definitely won't be doing any lower body workouts for the next day or two. I'm starting to feel overworked in that area. The lower body barre workouts are challenging for me! Otherwise, I'm doing pretty well hobbling around with just an Ace bandage around my knee, for the most part. I saw the doc a few days ago (2nd time) and decided that I would see what healing will take place within the next 6 weeks while I continue to exercise my leg on my own (vs physical therapy or MRI). At that point if there are still further problems then I'll have an MRI and take it from there. Hopefully it's just an MCL sprain, which can heal on its own, worst case would be the Unhappy Triad (MCL, medial meniscus, ACL) and surgery.

Jen, I'm sorry you didn't like Yoga XT. I was curious about that one. I'm reading YOYOG from my library and will be getting the other book soon too. It's very interesting!
 
I am checking in for today. :) Today is Cath'es HiiT Pyramid. OMG, I love this workout. Seriously, I really like Cathe's metabolic and HiiT workouts a lot as well as KCM's. I prefer athletic type of workouts. After that, I did STS Abs weights and plates. I always do plates first and weights second. I still have a hard time managing doing the 45 degree Pike to the sides. I can do Pikes but for some reason, not the 45 degree just yet. So I subbed in 45 degree knees to elbows instead. Any advice on this is highly appreciated. :) Oh, I cannot quite manage Pike on stability ball, either. I injured my tendon a long time ago, so I am cautious on this exercise.

One small success for me today is measuring out nut butter. And upping my calories to see if it will help me in the plateau department as far more lean muscle goes. :p

bzbnmom - wish you the very best! Take it easy on your LB. :)
 
This morning was Tapout XT Buns & Guns + Power Strike. Planned doubles is Max:30 Friday Fight 1.

Congrats SarBear! Meso 2 was my favorite of the 3 mesocycles, tho I am very partial to Meso 3's Plyo Legs. But Meso 2's workouts are the best of the bunch overall.

Happy birthday Jodi! Hope it was a great one!

Mary--sounds like a good thing you are giving you leg a break. I hope the mending continues and more treatment isn't in order. I wanted to like Tapout's yoga, but I am particular with my yoga workouts and IMHO this one $ucked. Plus, so far, Tapout has been hit or miss. Some workouts are really hard and challenging--and maybe I still don't care for them for some reason and some are very challenging and I love them. Others... eh. Like this morning's workouts. Buns & Guns was ok, nothing great but it did the job. Power Strike was unimpressive and I will probably never revisit that one. I've only done one Tapout XT 2 workout so far and I think I liked that one the best of all of them so far. By next week I will have done all of the Tapout 1 workouts and will have moved completely on to Tapout 2. I am really glad I bought these programs used (and cheap!) on ebay. Because I do not think they are worth what their website (and Amazon) charges for them. The production is low quality. The trainer is an idiot who I think is trying to imitate Tony Horton but half the time his "jokes" are nonsensical. And in most of the workouts the crew members are all over the place. Some of them are not even trying and just standing there doing nothing (usually the MMA fighters!). Everyone is on a different tempo. Oh, and sometimes when we repeat a move on the other side of the body, Mike (the trainer) does it for less time and at a completely different tempo. However, with that said, if you, the home exerciser, actually do the workouts as Mike directs--you will get an awesome workout for the most part. Most of the time I try to ignore Mike's idiocy and the fact half of the crew members clearly don't want to be there.
 
Today is my rest day, and co-workers have been bringing in more sweet treats to celebrate yesterday. Appreciated, of course, but ugh! Sugar overload!

Jen, is Tapout a Beachbody workout or some other company? Has the one day of heavy weights been enough?
 
No, Tapout XT is not a Beachbody program. It is it's own thing: http://www.tapoutxt.com/. I am actually doing 2 days of strength every week. I do both STS Total Body and KCM's Muscle Up 1 & 2 every week. In addition, Tapout XT does have some band strength work--some of it is really good strength work... some not so much. So overall I am getting enough strength work to get me through this month without any "losses." In fact, the reason I set the rotation up the way I did was because I had no idea what I was getting with the Tapout XT programs and the reviews I have found about them online are mixed. So I knew that regardless of what Tapout delivered I would still get 5 days of Shaun T/Insanity cardio + Cathe STS Total Body and KCM Muscle up workout every single week. So even without Tapout, that is a pretty solid rotation. Then you add Tapout on top of that and sometimes I am hurting!

I am about to finish out two weeks of this rotation and I am definitely seeing fat loss results. And my diet has not been good. I keep telling myself--clean up that diet and you will get some stellar results those last two weeks. But so far it hasn't happened. And of course this weekend is packed with
restaurant meals, my daughter sent me a ton of V-Day candy :( which I have already been digging into and who knows what my husband will get me.
 
RWH Rotation Week 3

Day 1 To the Max (no compound legs)
Day 2 RWH Lihi Chest, Triceps, Shoulders (Absolutely loved the burn)
Day 3 To The Max (no 30/20 hiit)
Day 4 RWH Lihi Legs (strength only)
Day 5 RWH Back/Biceps
Day 6 RWH Lihi Legs (strength only- went heavier and felt the difference)
Day 7 So tired couldn't get out of the bed for my workout.

What I learned this week.

Listen to my body. I enjoyed To The Max, but I think my body can only handle one day of high impact.
My goal was to workout seven days and take one day off. However, my body said 6 days is sufficient.
My goal was also to lift heavier and challenge my self and I succeeded. I loved the pump from the upper body workouts.
My goal was also to train legs twice a week and I reached that goal as well.
Eating needs improvement, not horrible but somedays its' hard to eat 5 meals. For some odd reason im having serious
cheese cravings. I hated cheese as a kid. Funny how your taste changes.

Ive been working out since the Firm days and used to chat online with the Firm Believers. It feels good to be chatting with
Cathletes. Im looking forward to planning my rotation for next week. I'll keep you posted. ;)
 
Today was the treadmill. Jessie J and Miley Cyrus kept me company today. Yes, I'll admit to owning Miley's CD, and yes, I love it. Haha!

I got Bodyshred for my birthday! I know I won't get to it for awhile, but I've already been thinking about rotation possibilities. I know it's not heavy weight work so I thought about mixing it with the Bulk workouts from Body Beast or maybe Burn Sets or even the RWH weight workouts. Or I could mix it with Body Revolution. So many options!

Jen, I hear you on the diet issue! I had a ton of treats for my birthday and now for Valentine's Day, hubby got me fancy cupcakes. Funny thing is I got him the same thing so we have some cupcakes to work through.

Healing11, I really like the rotation you made. Good luck on the next one!
 
I 've been traveling since Friday, but managed to keep up with workouts in the hotel. :D

Catwoman - HAPPY B! :)

Today's workout is HiiT on Treadmill with STS Abs - weights and plates. ;) I've been walking a lot due to sightseeing. So in a way, it's like a recovery week. The hotel gym comes with dumb bells so I've been utilizing those as well. I am a fitness fanatic, so everywhere I go I make sure there's a gym somewhere. If not, oh, well, good old bodyweight exercises plus lots of walking.

Happy belated Valentine's Day to everyone. :D
 
Haven't had a chance to check in the last few days. On Friday, I decided to test out another workout from Beachbody's 21 Day Fix Extreme so I did Cardio Fix Extreme and then the 10 min abs segment. The workout started off slow and at first I was thinking that there was no way this workout was going to get my heart rate up enough to get a decent cardio workout, but it quickly picked up the pace. I don't know what it is about her workouts though, they just don't have that "fun" factor that Cathe's do. I had to really force myself to finish the workout, not because it was too hard but because I wasn't really enjoying myself. Thankfully it was only 30 minutes long! I probably should have held off on buying this series until more reviews were out, but I didn't want to miss out on the free shipping that is offered when a new program comes out. LOL.

Jengolf-are you doing Shaun T's Insanity Max workouts? If so, how are you liking them? Unlike Autumn, I have always enjoyed Shaun T's as an instructor. I didn't buy his Insanity Max series because I have his T25 program, but of course now I'm starting to get curious! haha. As if I need more workout videos! haha.

Yesterday, I did Cathe's Upper Body Barbell Live workout. Loved it!! I went heavier than Cathe on some of the exercises and am definitely feeling some DOMs today. It had been awhile since I had done one of her live workouts and I had forgotten how much fun they are! I had such a great time doing the barbell workout and knew that I would be going out later that evening to celebrate Valentine's Day that I decided to do another workout! For my second workout I chose Solid Cardio plus Hiit Live. Had a great time doing that one as well!

This morning I decided to stick with Cathe Live and did Cardio Boxing with stability ball abs--another great workout! I'm having so much fun with her live workouts that I may do them all week since this week is my active recovery week for STS Meso 1! :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
 
Today was KCM's Weights workout #1, the bonus abs section (tough!) and RWH Lower Body Circuit premix #3 which is just the cardio blasts (also tough!). Another great KCM workout. I used 25 lb dumbbells for everything except the reverse flies, and I was feeling it by the end. Also loved the standing ab 'rests'...very different.
 
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. And I get a 3 day weekend--so I am happy! Eating too much, but that's what I do every weekend. )o: My biggest problem. And Saturday morning when I got on the scale it was lower than it has been in 2 years. Not sure why that alone didn't motivate me enough to stay away from the chocolate, but alas it did not. I have been trying not to overdo it tho.

This morning was Tapout 1 Cardio XT + Tapout 2 8 Pack Abs.

Sarbear, enjoyment is such an important factor in workouts and why I always come back to Cathe. She is my absolute favorite of all my favorites. I love a lot of trainers and have a lot of favorites but Cathe brings something to workouts that no other trainer does as well--fun! And yet they still challenge you. There are other trainers that I keep coming back to because they motivate me to push myself harder--Mark Lauren, Shaun T and Weider Ruthless workouts do that. They make me keep pushing myself past the point when I would normally max out. Toby Massenburg and KCM motivate me, too.

And yes, I am doing Shaun T's new Max:30 workouts. I'm not sure "like" is the right word for any of Shaun T's Insanity workouts. I do them because they push me harder than any other workouts I have ever done and when done consistently, they give me fat loss results like nothing else. And Max:30 is no joke. So far tho, I am liking Max:30 even better than the original Insanity. I think it may even be harder--even tho every single workout is shorter--he packs a mean and intense punch in 30 minutes. And the thing I like best about it--the recovery workout is actually a real recovery workout. The original Insanity had nothing that was a real recovery. In fact, I dreaded Max Recovery more than the actual plyo workouts! If you (or anyone else) likes Insanity level workouts, I feel like Shaun T has outdone himself with Max:30. I don't own Focus T25 and am on the fence about getting it. The reviews are so mixed. I have Asylum 1 but I haven't done it yet. It is actually scheduled for March. I'm doing it with Les Mills Pump.
 
I haven't checked-in in a few days. Friday I had a much needed rest day. Yesterday I did Gym Style Back, Shoulders, and Biceps. Today was Leah Sarago's Ballet Body - Total Body: Lower Body and Core sections (50 min). We didn't do much for Valentine's Day. We did have a lovely treat of red berries with stevia sweetened whipped cream, though. Yum!

Even though my RWH rotation was cut short by my injury I've still managed to lose almost 2 pounds in the last 2.5 weeks doing no cardio. I didn't expect that and I'm very pleased! I've been steadily losing a few pounds a month since giving up wheat and other grain flours in November. I am amazed at how effortless it has been and I can only wonder how long it will continue. I thought for sure I'd gain weight because of my injured knee. I have dropped down to about 5 workouts a week.
 
[email protected] said:
Anyone have the new Shaun T workouts and if so how are the
Click to expand...

I do--just scroll up one post and I wrote all about what I think of them. In summary--they are great. Actually, I'll just copy and past what I wrote:

"And yes, I am doing Shaun T's new Max:30 workouts. I'm not sure "like" is the right word for any of Shaun T's Insanity workouts. I do them because they push me harder than any other workouts I have ever done and when done consistently, they give me fat loss results like nothing else. And Max:30 is no joke. So far tho, I am liking Max:30 even better than the original Insanity. I think it may even be harder--even tho every single workout is shorter--he packs a mean and intense punch in 30 minutes. And the thing I like best about it--the recovery workout is actually a real recovery workout. The original Insanity had nothing that was a real recovery. In fact, I dreaded Max Recovery more than the actual plyo workouts! If you (or anyone else) likes Insanity level workouts, I feel like Shaun T has outdone himself with Max:30."
 
This morning was KCM's Muscle Up 1 & 2. Planned doubles is Max:30 Max Out Cardio.

That's awesome Mary! When we take care of our bodies, our bodies take care of us. I know after my accident I actually lost weight, too, even tho I was wheelchair bound. I did find ways to workout even tho I couldn't walk. I look back now and I am not even sure how I managed it (the weight loss), but I did. I was even eating cookies every day. Luckily I don't have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, because I do love bread. But I have been trying some new things lately--oat, almond and coconut flours, replacing 1/3 of my flour with ground flaxseed. I've really liked the results--it tastes better than I expected it to.
 
Today I did Gym Style Chest and Triceps, my 2 favorite upper body parts to work. Loved it!

Jen you've been so encouraging through both my injuries. Thank you. Even though yesterday I did a barre lower body workout, and it felt good, what I really felt like doing energy-wise was RWH LIHI Legs. Kind of frustrating but the barre/body weight workouts should help me build up my weaker calf muscle from my first injury. I can't help thinking that maybe the knee blowout wouldn't have happened if my calf had been stronger. Good for you for trying new bread ingredients! I don't have any food intolerances either, heck I can even drink milk. Reading William Davis's book The Wheat Belly opened my eyes about wheat. And Danielle Walker's Against All Grains cookbooks has some delicious recipes which are IMO better than wheat/white flour versions. They taste like "cheat" food but they feel like and are clean eating, of course in moderation.
 
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